A new hour of music from ‘LP’, including Pink Floyd, Big Big Train and Discipline
LP>Playlist #065 also includes Jeff Buckley, LYR, Steve Hogarth, Midlake, North Sea Radio Orchestra, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and Grateful Dead
Find LP>Playlist #065 on the folliowing streaming services:
Listening Guide #065
Jeff Buckley - ‘Mojo Pin’ It’s Never Over (Songs from the Film) 2025 and Grace 2004
Jeff Buckley’s influence is much greater than could be expected from someone who only made one fully-realised album, the brilliant Grace. ‘Mojo Pin’ also features in the recent film of his unreasonably short life, incorporating voice messages and previously unseen footage. This sounds a little like Led Zeppelin to me, with Buckley’s range overlapping with Robert Plant’s. He could sing in a variety of other styles, too. Progressive music, if not Prog Rock.
LYR - ‘Blah! Blah! Blah!’ Dark Sky Reservation 2026
With bandmate Richard Walters and producer Patrick J Pearson, poet laureate Simon Armatige has conjured a track with echoes of John Cooper Clark, and not only because of his northern dialect.
Steve Hogarth - ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ SPQR (Live from Sala Sinopoli, Roma) 2026
The lead singer of Marillion has a new live album with a mix of songs by the band, solo material, and covers. It’s difficult covering Leonard Cohen because, for all his reputation as a poet who has his own distinctive vocal style (as contrasted with a singing style), it is difficult to get anywhere near the original for feel and emotion. Not only does Hogarth succeed here, but he also makes one of Cohen’s best-loved songs his own. There is an excellent tribute to Cohen recorded by alternative rock artists, I’m Your Fan, and a Blue Note album called Here It Is. There’s also the renowned Jennifer Warnes album also called Famous Blue Raincoat. Can we have a Steve Hogarth Lenord Cohen tribute album, please?
North Sea Radio Orchestra - ‘Mansions in Eternity’ Special Powers 2025
An intriguing band from Salisbury, UK. Special Powers is their sixth album. They began by gigging in old churches, and the atmosphere of such places has seeped into the sonic signature of the band.
Discipline - ‘Aria’ Breadcrumbs 2025
Eight years have elapsed since their previous album, the well-received Captives of the Wine Dark Sea. One of the best progressive prog bands to emerge from the US, this is another melodic, reflective and beautifully constructed album. ‘Aria’ clocks in at ten minutes, but the restrained nature of the vocals (by band leader Matthew Parmenter) draws us into the complexities of the arrangement. A great closing track on an interesting, occasionally jazz-tinged, album.
David Bowie - ‘Wild is the Wind’ Station to Station 1976, remastered for vinyl
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the new Tanita Tikaram album, LIAR (follow the link to read it). On LIAR, she covers ‘Wild is the Wind’. The 50th anniversary edition of Station to Station is an opportunity to listen again to Bowie’s version of the song, written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. This is another example of an artist making a song their own. Bowie’s singing is immaculate over a haunting arrangement. For a long while, listening to Station as a teenager, I wasn’t aware that this was not a Bowie song, because he was so creative himself. Why cover anything? Well, he did an entire covers album, Pinups, but that project set out to be something very different from Station. But ‘Wild’ fits the mood of Station perfectly, so why not?
Grateful Dead - ‘Estimated Prophet’ Terrapin Station + The Very Best of the Grateful Dead 2003
Just as I’m beginning an exploration of the Grateful Dead, as I discussed here recently, we say a final goodbye to Bob Weir. This is a great song, one which I must have internalised by osmosis over the years, because I thought this was something new to me, and then I recognised the chorus. Maybe the title obscures the work a little. Anyway, rest well, Bob, and thank you.
Frank Zappa - ‘Peaches En Regalia’ Halloween ‘78 SDE (Live at the Palladium, NYC 27/10/78 Show 1) 2025
I struggle with Zappa, always have. That is the point of Zappa, though. His music is not meant to make you feel comfortable. It exists to challenge, to be thought-provoking, to shove you out of your comfort zone. In that connection, of course, Halloween was a big deal for Frank, and now his 1978 gig has been expanded into a lengthy SDE. Now the veil can stay thin for longer. All that said, ‘Peaches’ is an earworm of an instrumental, here played a little faster in comparison with the studio recording.
Pink Floyd - ‘Wish You Were Here’ (feat. Stephane Grappelli) Wish You Were Here 50 1975/2025
This album is the subject of my next longer read (possible with you next week, or possibly the week after, because this album needs to be done with due care and attention. This version of ‘Wish’ is in the box. It seems like a good idea at the time, but the addition of the violin, even played by a master violinist, doesn’t quite gel. As ever with SDE archives, though, it’s fascinating to hear an alternative history of the very definition of a classic album.
Big Big Train - ‘Counting Stars’ Woodcut 2026
Big Big Train. Big, big prog from the Genesis school of melodic, symphonic prog. Early reviews suggest this new album - released in February - is a masterpiece of a concept album. This is certainly a beautiful song, complete with a string arrangement and a terrific guitar solo by Rikard Sjöblom. Oddly, the solo and the song just stop in what sounds like the middle. This is probably because it’s extracted from the album, and the full work immediately moves onto the next track (or it’s a streaming error). So this is where this playlist just … stops.
Which was your favourite of these tracks? What’s currently playing on your audio system?
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Next Tuesday - a review of another new prog album, or the Pink Floyd deep dive if it’s ready for human consumption. Have a great week and keep in touch.
Enjoy the music,
Ian